Hi Ken,
Congratulations on the farm! We bought a 16 acre property in Fallbrook a year ago and planted out the first 4 acres this past spring. Like others have mentioned, I think a well is important. We have city water, but are on the waiting list with the driller, permit approval was fast. If you’re looking into a greenhouse, we found bids were only good for a few days and prices were rising significantly within a week, and items are still on backorder. Not sure if this is temporary, but demand seems high for farm related stuff. Several properties have sold around us in the past few months and there’s lots of clearing/ and improvements going on.
Gophers, ground squirrels, and rabbits, have been a challenge. For us, it’s not possible yet to plant things unprotected. Everything goes in a gopher basket with chicken wire cage above to protect from rabbits. Brad is great at the trapping, we’re still figuring it out. The gopher and squirrel tunnels are extensive and are hundreds of feet long. We spread hundreds of pounds of cover crop seeds before the winter rains and most got eaten by the birds and rabbits. Only the seeds inside the chicken wire made it. Now that it’s gotten hotter, critters are chewing on the irrigation lines so important to have back up supplies of parts.
We spent several months just observing the property to figure out how water flows during rainfall, where colder/warmer microclimates are, where windbreaks are needed, etc.
It’s exciting to be able to grow you’re own fruit! Best of luck to you!
Janet